Cape Cod Dad Honors Fallen Son With Second Fundraising Tour Of Mlb Stadiums In 2025

By Author: Steven Dubin
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In 2024, Scott Yelle completed the tour of Major League Baseball stadiums he began with his late son Jackson. At each stop—18 in total--he dropped off a $1000 check for the MLB Nike Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI)program in each city. In April 2025, Scott will start a tour of the first 12 stadiums he and his son visited, making a donation from the Jackson Yelle Foundation at each stop. The first being at Fenway Park in Boston on April 12.

Jackson Yelle, a baseball player at Elon University in North Carolina, was struck by an impaired hit-and-run driver on April 30, 2023. He was 21. That same year, the Yelle family formed the Jackson Yelle Foundation, 501(c)3 non-profit organization, to put good into the world by giving to causes Jackson would care about.

“Jackson had a zest for life and baseball. Helping other young men and women grow through the game he loved is something he would endorse wholeheartedly,” said Scott Yelle, a sales and marketing consultant and charter boat skipper from Eastham, Massachusetts. “On April 12, we’ll kick off this year’s fundraising effort by sponsoring a workshop ...
... for Boston’s Nike RBI, which is overseen by the Red Sox Foundation. We will also be making a $7,000 donation to the Boston MLB Nike RBI. The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport will be the main presenter at the workshop. After that, it’s a two-month odyssey to visit the stadiums Jackson and I first visited.”

The Nike RBI program supports the development of young men and women through baseball and softball. Since its inception, the Nike RBI program has served approximately two million young people. Many Nike RBI alumni have played in MLB, including Jackie Bradley, Jr. (most recently with the Kansas City Royals), Hunter Greene (Cincinnati Reds), Alek Thomas (Arizona Diamondbacks), and Dominic Smith (New York Yankees).

After Fenway Park, Yelle will attend and make $1,000 donations in 11 other MLB cities. Those visits include: Colorado (April 20); Oakland/Sacramento (April 22); San Francisco (April 24); San Diego (April 27); Houston (May 9); Washington DC (May 11); Baltimore (May 13); New York Mets (May 14); New York Yankees (May 16); Minnesota Twins (May 25; Cleveland (May 28).

As part of the donation ceremony at each stadium, Scott Yelle will be part of the in-game experience. During last year’s tour, he was on the field and even threw out the first pitch in a few ballparks. For this year’s tour, Yelle will be wearing special Catch2Heal t-shirts.

Catch2Heal is an additional piece to the Jackson Yelle Foundation fundraising campaign. Inspired by the book A Year of Playing Catch by Ethan Bryan, Scott began a 365 playing-catch-every day journey on January 27, Jackson’s 23rd birthday. He will continue daily games of catch on the two-month tour, which will also include a stop at the legendary Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa and Nike RBI programs that aren’t affiliated with MLB clubs (there are 130 Nike RBI organizations worldwide). You can follow his catch journey at https://www.instagram.com/catch2heal/.

“It’s appropriate that we visit the baseball field made famous in the movie Field of Dreams as touring all 30 stadiums was our dream. It’s bittersweet that Jackson’s not here physically with us, but he’s definitely here in spirit,” said Yelle. “We welcome and invite friends, family, and baseball fans to visit me at the before the game for a catch or at the game. And if you can’t make it, you can follow the stadium tour on our website’s blog, Instagram and Facebook.”

To donate, visit the Foundation’s website at https://jacksonyelle.com/. Donations beyond the $12,000 will go towards the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation’s efforts to support causes that provide resources/financial support to help young people “live their best lives” #justlikejackson.

“We—my wife Andrea and daughter Lexi—can’t thank MLB, our wonderful Board of Directors, donors and everybody else who have been so supportive,” said Scott. “I can’t wait to our first stop at Fenway Park and get this thing started. Jackson would have loved it.”

In addition to making a donation via https://jacksonyelle.com/, you can make a check payable to “Jackson Yelle Foundation” and send to Jackson Yelle Family Foundation PO Box 86, North Eastham, MA 02651.